And why were they tolerated before and not anymore? I think one mass shooting doesn't answer everything here. Why are there even now, in the halls of power in Washington DC, statues of those CSA rebels? That's the important question.Consider, though, that the US has statues of CSA rebels everywhere. These enemy leaders fought to maintain the institution of slavery.
Why should black citizens (and not only them) be expected to tolerate such statues? — Yellow Horse
What's the problem with statue cemetaries I say?What's the problem with removing a couple of statues? — Benkei
Well, we don't worship statues and we don't adore those who have statues made of them. As a person who loves history I cherish remembrance of history. I don't like iconoclasts. Old catholic churches that have been painted over in white during the days of protestant fury simply look sad. Iconoclasm and the need to destroy statues and art tells clearly that non-permissive idealism is on the rise.I'm probably the if guy to ask because I think the veneration of anybody is just insanity. The idolisation of people who were just as fallible as you and me. I don't like how people look up to successful businessmen, soldiers, politicians or historic figures. They're just men and women. — Benkei
Statues aren't for this time, it seems.Statues belong in musea, not the public sphere. — Benkei
Why do you think it's funny? You think all those that signed it don't have any point?The Harper letter is funny — Benkei
It wasn't banned. Americans just have these "scares" from time to time. The focus of the scare just changes.For years, and even to this day, Marxist thought is all but banned in the US. — Benkei
Who are the rabid racists you refer to?Now a couple of rabid racists and their enablers are barred from a couple of shows, because - hello - racism is out of vogue (Fucking finally, right?!), and all of a sudden it's a problem. — Benkei
You should give an example.Those cancellations are profit driven and not ideological. — Benkei
Life will surely go on. Just hope that the only body count we follow will be with the pandemic. As I said, in the fall a lot of Americans will go off their unemployment benefits. And they have toxic elections in front of them. Hope everything goes well and we are just a couple of foreigners talking nonsense here.Live goes on and the racists will retreat in their "cultural norms and values" code and how it's under threat from everything they don't like, which includes leftists and anything with pigment. — Benkei
It is not clear what are the forces that are fighting for the liberal values. The letter appeals to resist primarily just one wing. I still do not understand: Trump declares that he is the defender of free speech, but he is represented as a real threat. After reading this letter one can get impression that there is just one real threat, and there is also" stifling atmosphere".Our friend Noam signed a letter today opposing cancel culture and supporting free speech. JK Rowling and many others also signed. — fishfry
These are dangerous times. People think awful stuff "couldn't happen here," but every bad thing that ever happened in the world happened in a place where the people thought it couldn't happen. — fishfry
You should give an example. — ssu
Perhaps the letter should be examined a bit:It is not clear what are the forces that are fighting for the liberal values. The letter appeals to resist primarily just one wing. I still do not understand: Trump declares that he is the defender of free speech, but he is represented as a real threat. — Number2018
But this needed reckoning has also intensified a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity. As we applaud the first development, we also raise our voices against the second. The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful ally in Donald Trump, who represents a real threat to democracy. But resistance must not be allowed to harden into its own brand of dogma or coercion—which right-wing demagogues are already exploiting. The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides.
I understand your points: there are a few arguments that are commonly used in the discussions aboutYou see that illiberalism which the paper refers to is basically pushed from both sides. Remember that populism, the idea of "the people" who are forgotten and even discriminated by "the elite" is a juxtaposition which creates an enemy, is much used both on the left and on the right. Populism doesn't seek to discuss things, it seeks to dominate and stifle other opinions. — ssu
?Donald Trump ... represents a real threat to democracy.
Well, that is typical leftist rhetoric. Just like the rhetoric of marxists taking over the Democratic Party/the DNC is common at the right. One has to learn to tone down the rhetoric, you know.When he was elected, it was quite common to determine it as 'a fascist upheaval'. — Number2018
Let's say Trump's praising of authoritarian leaders makes people worry as the US President is still one of the most (if not the most) powerful person in the World. Yet of course Trump's ineptness evidently shows he's not a person that could change the US to an authoritarian state. What he can do is create a huge mess.I just do not understand why it was written in the letter. — Number2018
I think this interview below with Stephen Pinker makes the case pretty well as he was one of the signatures of the Harper's letter — ssu
I don't think we have seen any culmination here. Let's remember that even if similar uproar was in the universities in the sixties and seventies, this started basically just in the 2010's. I figure this thing will endure at least this decade or so.We still do not know if we witness the culmination of the process or it is just the beginning. What will shape the parameters of the allowed debate? — Number2018
And this is where many stop instantly reading.This is how Jordan Peterson — Number2018
In the last two decades many groups have been designated with ‘preferential status’ (despite substantive increases in the recruitment of women and minorities). Preferential treatment of one group leads inexorably to disadvantages for another. Each candidate should have an equal opportunity to secure a position, regardless of personal identification/categorization. Hiring practices that aim at equality of outcome is counter-productive if it results in discrimination against the most meritorious candidates. Such practice has also led to the emergence of mandatory ‘training workshops’ on gender equity, inclusion, diversity, and discrimination.”
Editor-in-Chief Neville Compton said Hudlicky’s views “do not reflect our values of fairness, trustworthiness and social awareness,” and added aside from “spread[ing] trusted knowledge,” his journal also must “stand against discrimination, injustices and inequity.”
Compton said publishing the article was a “clear mistake” and two Angewandte Chemie editors were suspended. In addition, 16 members of the journal’s international advisory board who criticized the piece submitted their resignations.
The journal says it is introducing a new process for peer-reviewing opinion pieces that will rely on experts in the topic of the essay instead of reviewers from the field of the journal. The journal also pledges to build more diversity within the editorial and advisory boards and develop new editorial guidelines incorporating diversity equality and inclusion principles and practices. An external review is planned to evaluate the journal’s processes, while an internal review is ongoing.
On Friday, June 5, the University became aware of a paper written by Professor Tomáš
Hudlický that was published and then retracted by the journal Angewandte Chemie.
The paper includes highly objectionable statements that contrast the promotion of equity
and diversity with the promotion of academic merit. These statements are hurtful and
alienating to members of diverse communities and historically marginalized groups who
have, too often, seen their qualifications and abilities called into question.
Together we have made significant strides to foster an institutional culture advancing
human rights and reconciliation. Among other actions, in recent years the University has:
• established a Human Rights and Equity Office;
• created a new Ombuds Office;
• hired its first Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement;
• launched the President’s Advisory Council on Human Rights, Equity, and
Decolonization;
• invested significant resources in training and education, including sessions on
unconscious bias;
• collectively made an explicit commitment to foster a culture of inclusivity,
accessibility, reconciliation and decolonization, under Brock’s Institutional
Strategic Plan.
Despite this progress, and the shared values that animate these efforts, we recognize there
is still much work to do. The University released a statement Friday outlining its deep concerns and strong opposition to the views expressed in the article. Today, I sent a letter to our graduate students in Chemistry to let them know there were supports available to them and to provide further assistance should they have questions. Please be advised that further steps are being considered and developed and these next steps will be shared with the community in the next few days.
And why were they tolerated before and not anymore? — ssu
How do you deal with political parties that have risen up in arms against the country and lost? It's actually easy, if after defeat they change their ways, they can be accepted back. That's how you get past civil wars. The leftist party that started our civil war and then luckily was defeated, is now at present in the government here. And nobody, neither the prime minister or any other member of the party, is thinking about a bolshevik revolution as they did in 1918. — ssu
A major force behind the racism in the US was Southern Bells who used media and education to assure their elitist position in the south would be culturally protected at the expense of people of color. — Athena
I think that the letter is appropriate to be fully quoted:
Editors are fired for running controversial pieces — ssu
NYT sacking of their opinion editor because of complaints from readers — Benkei
I think that the letter is appropriate to be fully quoted: — ssu
None of the people with these authoritarian ideals would ever put themselves in danger to advance their agenda. The fact that Noam Chomsky is now alt-right is just hilarious, not scary. — Kev
There is violence ramping up in the States, but it's gang violence in places where the police have been neutered/walked out. Stay out of those places. — Kev
I wonder where those writers and academics were years, even decades ago, when the alarm bells were being rung. Better late than never, I suppose. — NOS4A2
But special consideration needs to be given to Chomsky. He’s been a free speech warrior throughout his entire career, even defending the rights of Holocaust revisionists (his defence of Robert Faurisson was legendary) and war criminals. — NOS4A2
Trump declares that he is the defender of free speech, but he is represented as a real threat. After reading this letter one can get impression that there is just one real threat, and there is also" stifling atmosphere". — Number2018
These are dangerous times. People think awful stuff "couldn't happen here," but every bad thing that ever happened in the world happened in a place where the people thought it couldn't happen.
— fishfry
Probably, people who do not live in the US cannot understand what is going on there. — Number2018
I would really dispute this. Americans might have this hubris of "Manifest Destiny", but their attachment isn't similar as the Jewish have for their homeland... starting from the religious texts of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament.As Israel is for Jews, the US has been for White Saxon Protestants and neither nation embraces equality. — Athena
Yet every side in every civil war believes that their cause is righteous, morally right and justifiable. Why would they otherwise resort to violence in the first place than to defend what is right? Civil wars aren't fought just by mercenaries, who are quite rare in reality.There two concerns in that paragraph. Both sides of the Civil war believed God was on their side — Athena
And how many do you think there are who believe this today?This prejudice is part of people's identities just as military prestige is part of some people's identities. "I am important because you are not and as the police officer kneeling on a Black man's throat I am gloating with my sense of power". — Athena
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